No undue favour extended to any industry: Gujarat government

Rejecting CAG's report which speaks of "undue favour and benefit" extended by the Gujarat government to Reliance and Essar, the state government has claimed that no favour was given to any industry. "No favours were made to any industry by the state government. All the companies had comply with the norms and rules of the state and central governments. In its report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has lauded the state government's financial management and achievements of its public sector units for the year 2012-13.

"The report has stated that due to effective and result oriented administration of the state government the revenue income of the state has gone up by 128.79 per cent between 2008-09 and 2012-13. Similarly, the state's own tax income has gone up by 19.42 per cent compared to the previous year," said a statement issued by the Gujarat government here. The CAG in its report has said that the state-run Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) passed on "undue benefit" of Rs 587.50 crore to Essar Power by allowing it to change the delivery point of transmission of power to GETCO from its plant.

In another case, the report said that the state government-run Gujarat Maritime Board handed an "undue favour" to Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) by allowing it to pay only half the stipulated port fees, which led to a loss of Rs 649.29 crore.